


like me

by pawn_vs_player



Series: Adrian's Exam Week Extravaganza [6]
Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Tearjerker, but it's not super graphic, i guess, which means
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 12:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17425673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pawn_vs_player/pseuds/pawn_vs_player
Summary: His spider-senses tingle in a way they never have before. "You're... like me," he says, stunned.(Peter's POV of a couple key interactions before his untimely death.)





	like me

**Author's Note:**

> this is not how i wanted to kick off Exam Week Update Extravaganza, but all my other drafts are too long to be finished today, so... here we are.

There's a kid. Oh god, why is there a kid, the Green Goblin is here and after that Peter needs to stop Kingpin and the Doc, Peter doesn't have time to deal with this - 

His spider-senses tingle in a way they never have before, not in warning but in... welcome?  _Familiar, safe, like me._   _Like me._

"You're... like me," Peter says, stunned. There's another Spider in New York and he looks even younger than Peter was when he started.

The Goblin roars. Peter is going to deal with this later.

-

The rift opens, gravitational pull tugging Peter downward. His head dips in despite his struggles, and - 

and he sees  _everything_.

(there is a girl and she is strong but lonely and closed-off)

(there is a man and he is loving but abandoned and depressed)

(there is a man and he is righteous but alone and overworked)

(there is a girl and she is brilliant but grieving and young)

(there is a pig and clearly peter hit his head before he fell into the rift)

He sees everything, the reflections of himself and the reflections of what Kingpin wants,

and he sighs, 

and pulls himself out of the rift,

and jams the doohicky into the paneling, and the rift shudders out of existence as the concrete shakes and cracks and crumbles,

and Peter falls.

-

The kid's eyes are shining and not in the good way. Peter wishes he could comfort the kid, wishes he could get up and hug him and promise him that everything is going to be okay, but he can't. Peter hates lying and besides, this kid is a Spider, and their world is not kind to heroes.

Peter gives the kid the doohickey and a promise that he knows he won't be able to keep. Kingpin is coming and Kingpin  _hates_ Peter, and Peter can't get up, can't run away, can't  _thwip_ off to safety. Peter is a sitting duck. But the kid can run. The kid can make it out, get the doohicky to Aunt May, and finish what Peter started.

He makes the kid a promise he can't keep, because he can hear his death rumbling through the rubble and if lying is what makes the kid leave then Peter will lie to him. One of them needs to make it out and it's not going to be Peter.

-

Peter is staring death in the eye. Death is a wall of a man in a suit and beady, hateful eyes. Death is two massive fists trembling with rage. "You can't get them back," Peter says, because Peter hates lying, even to villains.

He can feel the creak of his ribs as he speaks and breathes and he knows that even if Kingpin stops right here, right now, Peter probably won't make it out of this tunnel.

He wishes he could have seen MJ one last time. Wishes he'd been able to tell her how much he loves her. Wishes they could have had another ten, twenty, thirty years together before hero-work caught up to him. Wishes he could have seen a child with MJ's bright eyes and his own goofy smile.

He wishes he could have apologized to Aunt May for leaving her behind. Wishes he could have given her one last hug. Wishes for a world where neither of them have to bury the other.

He wishes he could have fulfilled his promise to the kid. That boy is going to need so much help and Peter won't be there to give it. 

Kingpin's eyes narrow. Peter closes his own; he doesn't want his last sight to be his murderer.

Instead, he thinks of MJ: her beautiful eyes, her soft hair, her sweet laugh, her gentle hands, her loving smile. His wife, the love of his life, his partner in everything but crime-stopping. He loves her. He loves her so much.

His chest collapses in on itself under the weight of a grieving man's rage. He gasps, but his lungs have been flattened. The darkness comes quickly, but not quickly enough to escape the pain. 

He keeps his eyes closed and thinks about seeing Uncle Ben again. He hopes he's made the old man proud.


End file.
